Rolling spring metal.



ALEnEn n. LANE, or sr. Leurs,

MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO MONARCH METAL 'WEATHER V nomine srnnre METAL.

' reeaaao.

To aZZ @hom it may concern;

Be 1t known that l, ALFRED ll/f.` LANE, a c1t1zen of the United States, and a resident of the city of St'. Louis and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Im# provement in Rolling Spring Metal, of which the following is aspecication.

`This invention relates to rolling thin metal such as weather strips for windows and doors, and it relates particularly to rolling springy metal such as hard copper, brass and bronze. i

It has been found diflicult to roll; spring metal in the form of a strip without -twisting or warping the strip or putting kinks ,into it which interfere with. its use. The act of bending certain portions only of the width of the stripv to form the shape desired changes the internal of these portions of tortion and unequal the strip, causing.' dishardness-of the metal such as to necessitate annealing the entire A length of the strip before itis suitable for use. Y

The object of the invention is' to prevent distortion of the strip due either to molecu lar rearrangement4 of portions of it which are bent more than other portions or to other causes, and thereby to save annealing the strip. u

The invention consists in subjecting the major portion of the width of the strip 'to bending action and arrangin the rolls to do about the same amount o work on all portions of the strip; and the invention also consists in stretching the metal lengthwise slightly between the several operations performed by the rolls.

Further objects of the invention appear hereinafter in connection with the process of rolling a spring metal weather strip illustrated in the accompanying drawings; and what the invention consists in is more particularly defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings, wherein the same reference characters designate the same parts in the several views,

Figure l is a cross-section of the meeting portions of a pair of rolls, showing the first rolling operation being performed on the strip; and` Figs. 2 to 6, inclusive, are similar views of the second, third, fourth, fth and sixth operations on the strip, respectively.

'.lhe finished product is shown 4in Fig. 6 in Specification of Letters Patent.

structure of the metal aseries of stands of rolls arranged to oper ate successively upon a strip of metal pass ing through them, the diameter of each suc-J.

(seeding pair of rolls being greater than that of the preceding pair. Gearing is provided for rotating the successive pairs of rolls each at 'a slightlyV faster peripheral speed than the preceding pair.

Strips of metal of suitable width for the product desired are ksheared from sheets of the desired length and thickness'of metal, and are passed through the machine one after' another. In passing through the machine they are operated; upon by the rolls, each pair of rollsv performing one step inthe production ofthe finished article.

The pass between the ir'st pair of rolls 21, 22 V(see Figf. 1"of the' drawing) .is shaped y tobend the middle portion of the strip 10 vand outwardly at an obtuse angle to the' Upbn emerging `from the middle portion.

thespring in the metal first pair of rolls,

y Patented dune i12, i217. *l Application led December 20, 1915. Serial No. 67,738.

causes the convexvmiddle portion to flatten out somewhat, thereby causing the edges of the marginal flanges 11 to approach each other. y

The pass between 4the second pair of rolls 23, 24, has aflatterfconvex middle portion than that ofthe rst pair of rolls, and the portions which receive side flanges are radial, thereby bending the latter straight up,

' as shown in Fig. 2. Upon emerglng from the second pair of rolls the obtuse angle be` tween the middle portion of the strip 10 and the marginal flanges 11 has been decreased to an angle slightly less than The pass between the third'pair of rolls 25, 26 has a straight middle portion, with wide grooves at its two ends in the .top roll. These Agrooves have inclined outer walls 27 which `slope inwardly from their outer edges, as shown in Fig. 3. The fiat middle portions of the rolls flatten out the convex middle portion of the strip and cause the top edges of the flanges 11 to slant toward each other in-position to be engaged by the slanting walls 27 of thetop roll and bent in still farther.

The pass between the fourth' pair of rolls 28, 29 (see Fig. 4) is similar to that bef the finished end ,mit

tween the third pair of rolls 25, 26; but in the fourth pair of rolls the side walls 30 of the two edge grooves in the top roll 28 make a flatter angle with the iat middle portion than in the third pair of rolls, and thereby bend the ianges 11 more nearly down against the flat middle portion of the strip.

The pass between the fifth pairof rolls 3l, 32 is substantially flat for the full Width of thestrip', only its margins being widened slightly by beveling the edges of the top roll to accommodate the iianges 11 which are completely doubled back on the middle portion of the strip thereby, as 'shown in Fig. 5.

The pass between the last pair of rolls 33, 34 is straight for the middle portion, but arranged at an angle to the axes of the rolls, and the diverging edge portions of the pass are beveled oi at a slight angle thereto, one end of the passes being up and the other down, as shown in Fig. 6. The flanges 11 and margins of th strip 10 are engaged by these beveled edges and bent one up and the other down. The margin 35 which is bent down is next to the high edge of the slantingA middle portion; and the margin 36 which is bent up is next to the low edge of the slanting middle portion, this arrangement keeping the strip as a whole parallel with the axes of the rolls, and thereby reducing the amount ofslip between the rolls and s trip, and distortion of the thin metal occasioned thereby. The beveled portions of the rolls which form the margin 35 are respectively convexed and concaved slightly to produce a slight concavityhlong one bent edge of the finished article. 'The angles and shape of the beveled edges of the rolls which form the oppositely inclined margins of the strip may be changed to suit the shape of strip desired.

It will be noted that each bending operation is performed simultaneously with the rolling the thickness of substantially the entire wldth of the strip. Each operation slightly increases the length of the strip, and the following pairs of rolls are speeded up sufficiently a little more than just to keep pace with faster movement of the strip toward due to its lengthening.` This reduction in the thickness and length-wise stretching of the metal is scarcely measurable, and its hardening eect upon the metal is uniformly slight, but it is e'ective in taking the wind and kinks out of the lianged edges and middle It is evident that the widthof the blank and consequent slight reduction lin portion of the metal strip."

strip, and the angles and curvature of the faces of the rolls may' be changed within wide limits t'o suit the shape of finished article desired, and the invention is not restricted to the precise conguration of the rolls shown and described.

I claim the following as' my invention:

l. The process of bending springy sheet metal strips which comprises passing said strips cold through successive pairs of bending and reducing rolls, each succeeding pair of rolls being driven at a peripheral speed slightly greater than that of the preceding pair.

metal strips which comprlses passing said strips cold through successixe pairs of gripping and bending rolls, each succeeding pair of rolls being driven at a peripheral speed slightly greater than that of the preceding pair,whereby each strip'is stretched slightly. between successive pairs o rolls.

3. The process/of bending springyV sheet metal strips which comprises passing each strip cold through successive pairs of rolls each of which makes a slight reduction in -the thickness of substantially the entire width of the strip, rolls being driven slightly greater than that of the preceding pair.

4:. The process of bending over the edges of springmetal strips which comprises bending up the middle portion of the strip to convex form simultaneously with bending up the margins at an angle thereto, and subsequently attening the convex middle portion.

5. The process of bending over the edges of spring metal strips which comprises bending up the middle portion of the strip to convex form simultaneously with' bending up the margins at an angle thereto, and subsequently Hattening the convex middle p0rtion and margins into parallel planes. 6. The process of bendingr over the edges of spring metal strips which comprises bending up the middle portion of the strip to convex form simultaneously with bending up Athe margins at an angle thereto. bending in said margins and reducing the convexity of said middle portion and subsequently attening the convex middle portion and margins into parallel planes.

Signed at St. Louis, Missouri, this 15th day of December, 1915. n

ALFED M. LANE.

each succeeding pair of at a peripheral speed- 2. The process of bending springy sheet i 

